


The beginning

by RainbowKittn



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: F/F, I hope to return, Retelling of the movie, Unfinished, the start of something larger, with some twists later of course
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-23 23:03:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17089403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainbowKittn/pseuds/RainbowKittn
Summary: The opening of a larger work; this is a re-telling of the movie with a twist. All from Holtzmann's perspective. Here's a snippet of the opening. Just a taste for now.





	The beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Um... Hi! So, I haven't posted anything in like... a year and a half? But this project has been happening in the background for years now. I'm just starting to get back to it, and it's daunting. So, I decided I wanted to post just the first little bit of it. A teaser of the bigger story. I'm not sure why, to be completely honest. But here I am! I can't promise more, soon or ever. This is unedited and unfinished. If/(hopefully)when I post the rest of the story, this bit may be entirely different, depending on where my story goes. But please feel free to comment. I would love to hear what you all think. <3

**BEEP BEEP BEEP**

Holtzmann groans and quickly slaps the top of the annoying little box on her nightstand. Thankfully, she reinforced its casing a long time ago, or else that likely would have broken it. Again. She rolls over and peeks an eye open through the swarm of blonde curls around her head. 11:00. Holtz lets out a series of exaggerated whimpers before dramatically tossing the sheets to the side. She lays still in the bed--the cool air flowing over her bare form--until her entire body convulses in a shiver. With a final groan, she sits up in bed and swings her legs over the side. As she stands, she stretches her arms overhead, resulting in a series of loud pops coming from her back. She shuffles to the bathroom, going through a series of hand and wrist stretches on the way; quieter pops originating from each stretched joint.

If Holtz had to pick one favorite thing about her apartment, it would definitely be the hot water heater. She loves hot showers. The water here is always warm within seconds, and seems to be limitless. Yes, she’s been late to work because of staying in the shower too long many times. No, she isn’t sorry. Holtz steps under the warm spray, letting it relax her sore shoulder muscles. A moan rumbles through her chest. She’s definitely going to be late today.

Luckily, Holtz has gotten her post-shower routine pretty fast, despite the care she puts in. She blow dries and curls her hair before putting it up in an intricate bun consisting of 2 hair ties and at least 15 bobby pins. She puts on basic makeup, some days going heavier than others. Today she’s feeling dramatic, so she opts for smoky eyes and bright lips. Her wardrobe is as eclectic as the different types of metal she has in her apartment, and just as scattered around. She pulls on boxers and a sports bra that she’s at least 82% certain is clean enough to wear again and reaches out to one of the piles. She ends up with a long-sleeved green crop top and immediately puts it on. She’s one arm in when she remembers her plans for the day. She pulls her head through the neck of the shirt before digging half-covered through a pile on the table for a pair of overalls. A successful find and not remembering to pull her other arm through the shirt until she was already fastening the overall straps later, and she’s slipping on socks (the first two she found, naturally) and boots as she practically runs out the door, with just enough time to catch the subway and only be 10 minutes late. Well, 10 minutes later than planned.

~~~~~

Holtz pokes her head in through the open lab door. She sees Abby’s silhouette hidden by one of their yellow curtains and smiles. With any luck, Abby won’t even notice just how late she is. Holtz drops her bag and leather jacket on a chair near the door, trading it out for her favorite lab coat. She plops in her chair, spinning around once as she digs through the coat’s pockets for her glasses. She forgot to grab when she left last night. At least she had another pair at home. She slides them on as she eyes the blueprints for her latest project; the holo laser. She grabs one of the many pencils littering the desk surface and starts scribbling down notes on a spare piece of paper. At least she thinks the paper isn’t anything important. She didn’t check. Late last night--well, actually early this morning--she realized what her most recent problem likely was, and had gotten pretty far into figuring out a solution when she had finally fallen asleep.

Now, she scratches her temple as she tries to remember some of the finer details that have been fuzzied by sleep. Holtzmann really hates sleeping, it always wipes out the best ideas. Once in grad school she didn’t sleep for four days. She made amazing breakthroughs, but messed up a wiring connection and set her own project (and several other students’ projects) on fire. Gorin forced her to sleep after that, and told her she was no longer allowed to go 24 hours without sleep ever again. Holtz knew better than to not listen to Dr. Gorin, even if she was currently in a different state and no longer technically her professor.

“--a few times, but I’m hopeful they’ll get the ratio right this time.” Holtz is snapped out of her fond reminiscences by Abby’s voice just on the other side of her lab table. She looks up quickly to see the other woman watching her expectantly.

“Uh… What?” Abby gives her a small sigh and an understanding smile.

“I was asking if you want me to order you lunch.”

“Oh. Yeah! Wait. Are you getting chinese again?”

Abby gives a slightly embarrassed grin. “Yeah…”

“Abbs, it’s been like ten times this week!” Holtz whines.

“It’s only been three!” Abby shrouds her feelings of self-consciousness about her eating patterns in stubbornness. They’ve had many conversations about how much chinese food is too much. Abby has finally started countering back by saying Holtz eats more pizza than she eats chinese. She’s had limited success. Today Holtz sees the stubborn set of Abby’s shoulders, and after a raised eyebrow of a challenge, she backs off.

“Ugh, naw. I’ll find something myself.”

Abby tries (and fails) to hold back a grin at winning the not-actually-had argument for today. “Okay. Just make sure you eat something more than those Pringles.” Abby looks to a tube on Holtz’s table. Holtz follows her gaze and immediately perks up. She’d forgotten about the Pringles! She reaches out for the tube, immediately pulling it open and stuffing a handful of chips in her mouth.

“No pwomishes!” Holtz exclaims, sending chip crumbs scattering across her table. Abby just rolls her eyes and walks away to order her lunch.

Holtz turns back to her scribbled ideas, nearly immediately getting lost in them and completely forgetting about the can of Pringles, let alone anything more substantial. After more scribbled equations (she’s moved onto another piece of paper now) and a dive through their stash of scrap metal in the corner, she hears another woman’s voice.

“--like a crazy person!”

Holtz looks around a curtain to see a redheaded woman standing in the middle of their lab. The woman turns just slightly as she flails her hands, apparently upset at something, and Holtz’s mouth drops open. _NO WAY!_ It’s Erin. It as to be. Holtz has seen her picture on the back of her and Abby’s book every day for weeks now. Holtz sneaks closer, wanting to know why this woman--someone who abandoned her best friend years ago--was suddenly back and standing in said ex-best friend’s lab. Oh, right. Actually listening to what they were saying might help her figure out what it was about.

“--will take my top off for Bennie if it gets me three more wantons!”

Nope. Not helpful. Abby walks to the back of the room, clearly on the phone with the chinese restaurant. Again. Holtz has told her so many times to just order from the one down the street. It was closer, and had way better spring rolls. And yet…

Oh, right, Erin. Erin flails exasperatedly after Abby’s retreating form. Holtz scrambles mentally for a way to introduce herself. She has to be cool, interesting, suave. She sits down in her lab chair, leaning back to rest her feet on the table.

“You carry a lot of tension in your shoulders.” Oh, shit. Erin can’t know she’s just been staring. _Act natural!_ Holtz notices a blowtorch on the desk, and quickly grabs it, lighting it right as Erin turns around, giving her a slightly startled look. _Nailed it!_

“I’m sorry, hello? Wh-who are you?” Erin sputters. Holtz smiles brightly and drops the torch, nearly immediately forgetting it at the sight of Erin’s wide eyes and furrowed brow.

“Holtzmann.” She rips off a glove and stalks toward Erin, extending a hand. “Avid skier. Gluten full.” Erin gently shakes her hand, seeming not quite sure what to do with the blonde. “And 100% jazzed to meet you.” Abby reappears, walking over to Holtz’s side.

“Don’t get too close to her, Holtzmann. She’ll ask you to write a book, and then she’ll squash your dreams.” Abby gives Erin the look of a lifetime, wanting nothing more than to watch her former friend squirm. She gets what she wants as Erin looks away bashfully. “Holtzmann works with me here in the lab. She’s a brilliant engineer,” Holtz wraps an arm around her friend. She’ll never get used to Abby’s kind praise. “And very loyal. She would not abandon you.”

“I get it.” Erin is clearly distressed at Abby’s harsh words. Holtzmann can’t find it in her heart to feel sorry for Erin. She’s spent too many nights handing Abby tissues and ice cream.

“She also happens to specialize in experimental particle physics.” Holtzmann carefully removes her glasses to get a better look at the redhead. Is her suit really that boring of a color? “She was almost hired by CERN.”

“That’s very impressive,” Erin says, clearly intrigued by the engineer’s credentials. “Uh, what happened?”

“There was a lab incident,” Holtz starts, the lie she loves to scare people with rolling easily off her tongue.

“But he’s gonna wake up,” Abby follows, giving a good impression of a sympathetic look to Holtz. Man, Holtz really loves Abby’s ability to play along with her.

“He woke up yesterday.” Holtz drops her voice, trying to sound grave, even with what should be good news.

“Great.” Abby smiles, waiting to see where this is going.

“Then he screamed and went back into a coma.” Holtz chances a glance at Erin, who looks properly mortified. This is _awesome!_

“Well, I bet all that screaming really tuckered him out.”

“Um, can we get back to our discussion please?” Erin finally interrupts them, looking very uncomfortable. The other two women both feel she definitely deserves it.

“Oh, gosh, it sounds like a great time,” A hint of a smirk pulls at the corner of Abby’s mouth, “but I'm gonna have to say no because Holtzmann and I are really busy here actualizing what we just theorized about in our book.” Her tone is smug. Rightfully so. They’ve put in a lot of long hours trying to get things working, and made huge leaps past the theories explored in the book.

“Really?” Erin tries to hide her interest. She’s not very good at it.

“Yeah. We're incredibly close on the holo laser for the reverse tractor beam. Really close.”

Holtz dramatically points over her shoulder, giving the redhead in intense stare. She slowly, teasingly, raises a second finger, delighting at the mixture of intrigue and embarrassment coloring the woman in front of her. She says something. Holtz doesn’t care. She just wants to poke at the experiment in front of her--to see how far she can push it before it explodes. “Abby, why don’t you let her listen to the EVP.”

“What EVP?” Erin asks, increasingly flustered.

“No. There’s no EVP…” Abby starts. Holtz doesn’t pay any attention.

“EVP is electro--”

“Electro voice phenomenon,” Erin fills in quickly. “I'm familiar. I know what it means. And there's never been one substantiated.” That gets Abby’s attention.

“Oh, there hasn't? There hasn't been one…” Abby rips off her helmet. Oh! Abby’s wearing the helmet. She must have had a breakthrough this morning. Holtz starts to think about what she could have figured out, before hearing Abby’s voice again and remembering what they were doing. Right! Messing with Erin. “--a suit on and you get so cocky.” Holtz follows Abby over to the large tape player.

“A few months ago, we spent eight nights at the Chelsea Hotel. We didn't get anything.” Holtz sets it up to let Abby deliver the punch.

“Well, we didn't think so. And then later, in the lab, when we were reviewing these tapes…” She presses play.

Abby and Holtz both dramatically bend over the machine, exuding intrigue, surprise, and mostly confidence. Erin bites and leans over after them. Holtz has to bite her tongue to not break into laughter immediately. As soon as the noise rings out through the lab, she can’t help herself, immediately devolving into giggles.

“Wow, you really got me.” Erin stands up straight immediately, fighting a losing battle with the blush spreading across her cheeks.

“You know what? Usually we can’t even get people over here. But we have never--” Abby fights to speak between her laughter.

“She came right over to it,” Holtz chokes out.

“Never had anybody actually put their face down close to the machine.” Abby lets the laughter bubble out for a moment as erin subconsciously adjusts her suit jacket.

“It’s a cool joke. That was funny. It’s disgusting.” Erin’s tone… oh man, Holtz just can’t not…

“Is it more or less disgusting if I tell you it came from the front?” Holtz stands straight, every ounce of her being focused on not devolving into hysterical laughter at the up-tight woman flushing furiously in front of her.

“Oh, you didn’t…” Abby shakes her head at the blonde.

“I can do it live if you want.” Holtz really could do it live on-cue. Well, not from the front. Is that even possible? Maybe. She’ll have to look that up lat--on second thought, best not.

“What’s next? You gonna give me a wedgie?” Erin looks between them, exasperated.

“No. I think both of us pretty much feel you have enough stuck up your butt.” Abby looks to Holtzmann, pressing her mouth into a thin line to avoid laughing.

“BURRRRN!” Holtz yells out, earning a concerned look from the redhead.

“Okay, you know what?” Erin looks completely done with the two women in front of her. “I thought we could have an adult conversation, but apparently we can’t.” She huffs across the room, ready to leave until Abby rings out.

“Erin, if you don’t believe in this stuff anymore, then why were you looking for the book?” Abby looks smug. Erin looks furious. Well, as close as Holtz imagines the tense woman can get to furious.

“A man came to see me _at my work_ ,” Erin sounds properly upset, “saying his building was haunted.” Holtz immediately turns to Abby, face light with anticipation.

“What building?” Abby questions.

“The Aldridge Mansion. It’s obviously a joke.” Erin laughs, even as Abby returns Holtz’s serious look. They both spring into action, heading straight for their computer to look up the address. “What are you doing?” Erin intently follows their movements. If Holtz’s mind wasn’t a flurry of excitement, she might have noticed how much Erin’s behavior didn’t match her protests against her interest in ghosts. “See, this is-this is exactly…”

“You ready to go find some ghosts?” Abby clearly isn’t paying attention to Erin’s interest, either.

“Yes.” Holtzmann holds up her hands. Abby mirrors her without even really thinking about it as they move through their less-than-secret handshake. Both let out a yell of “Break!” at the end before springing into flurried action. Abby grabs her bag as Holtzmann throws off her lab coat.

“Wait, you’re going?” Erin yells after Abby, who is already headed to the door.

“I’ve got the pack!” Holtzmann is suddenly glad she had agreed with Abby’s instance that they have a bag ready to go on a moment’s notice if they got word of a ghost sighting. Ooh, Pringles! Holtz grabs the can off the table as she runs to the door.

“Abby! Please, Abby. The book.” Erin’s shoulders fall, exasperated at her former friend’s behavior. She just wanted to have an easy, reasonable conversation…

“Come on. Let’s go!” Abby is motioning Erin towards the door. Erin bristles slightly.

“I’m not going with you guys.”

“Oh, no. Are you kidd-” Abby puts on a high voice, feigning upset. “You were never invited! I need you out of the lab, so I can lock the door.” Holtz shifts her weight from foot to foot, wanting nothing more than to start running down the long hallway.

“Oh. Well, you said ‘let’s,’ so...” Erins voice is small and she looks away for just a moment.

Let’s goooooooooo. “Oh, my god. Just pull the…”

“We’re wasting time.” Holtz starts off down the hallway, not willing to wait any longer.

“Just close the door behind you, it’ll lock!” Abby yells, chasing after the bobbing blonde curls. They run through the maze of hallways, paying no attention to the click of heels behind them. As soon as she bursts through the doors of the building, Abby is already calling for a taxi. Luckily one happens to be passing by, and they run right to it. Finally the extended yells behind them makes Abby pause, Holtz nearly crashing into her.

“Please, Abby, just take the book down,” Erin pleads with them from the steps of the college. “Please.”

Abby sighs deeply. Erin finally shows back up, and all she cares about is forgetting that book. Just like all those years ago. “All right, all right.” She never could say no to Erin. “But you have to introduce us to this guy at the Aldridge Mansion.”

Erin lets out a visible sigh of relief, quickly nodding in agreement. “Yes, he would love to meet you.”

“Then I will consider, maybe, taking the book down until you get your stupid tenure at your stupider college.” Abby knows she’s being a bit petty. At least Erin is desperate enough to not point it out.

“Absolutely. Yes, I will. Yes, of course!” Erin babbles, happy to finally be making headway. She runs to hop in the taxi after the other two.

Abby quickly gives him the address, and they’re off. Awkward silence descends on the cab. That’s no good. Holtz turns to Abby and starts explaining the breakthrough she had on the holo laser. As she talks, she watches Erin out of the corner of her eye. The redhead looks stiffly out the window, but Holtz is sure she’s listening to every word they say. Holtz decides to play it up, and points out the flaw she found is something they missed when writing their book. Erin’s eye twitches. Holtz can’t keep the smirk off her face. She’s just about to lay it on extra thick when the cab pulls to a harsh stop. She looks out the window and beams. The Aldridge Mansion! It’s go time! Holtz nearly falls out of the car in her excitement, dragging the heavy bag after her. They all stand frozen for a moment, looking up at the building. It is strange to see something so aptly named a “mansion” in New York City. Everything else is all apartments and penthouse suites. Holtz remembers the one time she’s been in a penthouse suite. It was in her unfortunate stint as--

“--not open.” Holtz turns around to the source of the noise that interrupted her thoughts. “Can I help you?” A man stands across the street, looking at them nervously. He must be able to get them into the building. Way better than having to climb through the window like the last time they tried to go see a haunted building. All three women cross the street towards the man.

“Yes. Hi. We’re looking for Ed Mulgrave,” Erin says to him. “I wanted to introduce these people to him. He came to see me this morning.”

“Ed Mulgrave?” The man pales, even with his already pasty complexion. “But Ed Mulgrave died 15 years ago.”

“Yes! That’s awesome!” Abby exclaims in full passion.

“Whaaaaaat?” Holtz drawls, a slow smile overtaking her face.

“Dead for 15 years! Ed's a ghost! Ha! Knew it!” Abby looks around excitedly.

Erin slightly shakes her head. “I just saw him today.” An elderly (but almost certainly not dead) man comes up to them. “Oh. So, who is this?”

“That’s Ed’s son. Ed Junior,” the young man explains.

“Okay. That’s obviously who I meant,” Erin says exasperatedly. Holtz’s ghost-based smile turns into an Erin’s-frustration-based smirk, taking a strange joy in seeing the woman so flustered.

“Hi, Junior. If I may, uh, when is the last time the paranormal entity was actually seen? And if you were to rank it, let's say between probably a T1 and T5…” Abby quickly devolves into full technical speak, and is thankfully interrupted before launching on a full-on monologue.

“Garrett here saw it on Tuesday, and I believe it made him soil himself,” Junior says, indicating the young man next to him. Garrett’s mouth opens in shock.

“Jesus,” he gasps.

“Wow. Soiling. I’d put that at a T3,” Abby says very seriously.

“T4 if it was poop,” Holtz says significantly less seriously, despite her apparently impressed expression. Garrett scoffs indignantly. “Unless you ate something weird,” Holtz presses, happy to watch him squirm under such simple circumstances. “Hard to suss that out after the fact, though.”

“I didn’t soil myself!” Garrett exclaims.

“He did. He called me sobbing, saying. ‘Oh my god, my pants are toast,’” Ed Jr. chirps in. Holtz can’t contain her smile.

“Did you happen to keep a sample of the soiling?” Abby joins in, catching up to the ribbing nature of her friend. Her beautiful ability to keep a straight face in these situations makes Holtz want to kiss her. Now’s probably not the best time, though. “I’d love to get that back to the lab.”

“Okay. Alright,” Erin finally interrupts them. Holtz almost whines. She’s no fun at all. Holtz will have to fix that. “So, I have made the introduction.”

“Yeah, thank you,” Garrett cries.

“All right,” Abby gives in. They are here for a reason, afterall. “How ‘bout you take us across the street. I got to get in there, set up.” Garrett digs a set of keys from his pocket and flings them to the ground at Abby’s feet. Abby scoffs. That’s really not necessary. They were just having some good natured fun.

“You’re gonna die in there,” he says, a little too seriously. Eh, how bad can it be?

**Author's Note:**

> Seriously, I have like 11k words of this written and I'm only through them getting kicked out of the college. It's a huge and hugely intimidating project. I posted this to get some of that enormity out of it. And, with any luck, give me a kick in the ass to actually work on it. I have plans for a gigantic piece. I don't want to spoil too much right now, but it will be emotionally intense, sexually explicit, and take us through an epic of a journey. I hope to share the rest with you some day. For now, I hope you enjoyed this piece of the story.


End file.
